Astell & Kern AK70 portable music player

If you can find this product for sale in the UK at a lower price we will match it. The comparable product must be identical in spec, readily available from a UK dealer and available within the same timescales as we are offering. We offer genuine products intended for sale within the UK, not Grey imports as such the comparable product must not be a grey import.

The AK70 is a high resolution, pocket audio player / DAC designed with a comfortable oblique angle on one side of the body so that it can fit the contour of the user’s thumb, the finger used most frequently when controlling the screen with one hand.

The volume wheel is designed to be protruding slightly from a concave surface so that you can control volume with a simple motion of sliding your finger up and down. With slim 13-mm thickness and 132-gram lightweight, the palm-sized device is easy to carry anywhere.

Product Description

AK70 24bit 192kHz bit to bit Playback

The AK70′s DAC, based on market-proven CS4398 chips of Cirrus Logic,
has been used for years in Hi-Fi audios and the second-generation Astell&Kern devices.
The AK70 plays back 24bit 192kHz signals into bit-to-bit type.
32bit audio is downsampled using a sample-rate converter.
In addition, DSD 64/128 can be played back through conversion to PCM.

AK70′s Diverse Output Types – Balanced Output

The AK70 supports the 2.5-mm 4-pole balanced output (2.3 Vrms) that has been in use since the second generation of the Astell&Kern players.

Unlike the unbalanced type, the balanced output type is capable of removing noise (common mode noise) that can occur in “signal + inverting amplifier signal” and has the strength of increasing output due to its double transmitting signals.
The AK70 can be used with a variety of balanced earphones and headphones made for Astell&Kern.
It can also support the 3.5-mm 3-pole unbalanced output (2.3 Vrms), with compatibility with a variety of Hi-Fi earphones and headphones.

Variety of Output Types of AK70 – USB DAC

The AK70 can be used as a USB DAC that can double as an embedded sound card by connecting with a PC/Mac through the USB port.
In the case of using the PC’s embedded sound card, one may have to go through a complicated process to play back DSD data.
In contrast, the AK70 can do so simply by connecting with the PC.

In the case of using the AK70 as a USB DAC, it can support up to 24-bit 96 kHz bit to bit, providing much richer sound through superior ambience and resolution way beyond the limits of an embedded sound card.

* When using the AK70 as a USB DAC, its PEQ settings are not applied, and output up to 24bit, 96kHz is supported.
* DSD 64/128 is converted via DSD-to-PCM for playback.